


Dust to Dust

by romantorchwick



Category: RWBY
Genre: Everyone Is Gay, M/M, Neptune/Sun hinted at in background, The Author Regrets Everything, calling Roman out on his shit, everyone being sarcastic assholes, first time posting a fic whoo, rough makeouts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-06-07 15:21:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 15,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6810829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romantorchwick/pseuds/romantorchwick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scarlet David finds himself in quite a bit of trouble when he attracts the attention of the most wanted criminal in Vale. Follows main story by end of Volume 1 to (hopefully) most recent Volume. May be some plot differences, but I tried my best to work with the story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“So does anyone actually know how to get to Beacon from here? Or are we just wandering aimlessly until someone takes pity on three lost boys?” Scarlet David asked to his teammates- Neptune Vasilias and Sage Ayana as they made their way past what he could have sworn was the same street they passed an hour ago.

“We’re not lost, we’re adventuring. You used to be fun, Scarlet.” Neptune yelled from a little ways ahead. 

Scarlet rolled his eyes. Neptune probably hadn’t even noticed how long they’d been there. Frustrated, he kicked at the ground with his boots. It was Neptune’s fault they were lost, anyways. Sun left them to come here weeks ago, but Neptune refused to stow away in a boat. So they had to wait and cover for him. 

“Hey, we’ll get there, guy. Just be patient with our slow friend,” Sage said, slowing his walk to match Scarlet’s. “Besides, we don’t even technically need to be there yet.”

Scarlet shrugged. “And least we’d know where we are.”

“What do you mean, we do know where we are. We’re at…” Sage stopped walking and swung his head around, looking for street signs or anything to indicate where they were. “Shit. Neptune, hold up!” he shouted ahead.

Neptune, who had been chatting to himself, unaware that his friends were so far behind, turned around. “What? What’s going on?”

Sage shrugged his arms, walking forwards to catch up with him. “We’re officially lost. And it’s getting dark.”

A distant clang rang out in the air, and Scarlet cocked his ear at the sound. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what, Scarlet?” Sage’s voice boomed out across the empty landscape. “I don’t-”

“Shh. There’s something over here,” Scarlet whispered, sneaking over to an alleyway. He took the corner and peered around, raising his eyebrows when he saw the White Fang members at the end of it.

“Dude,” Sage whispered, who had gotten into position on the other side of the wall. “What are they doing?”

“Look, those crates they’re stealing have the Schnee label on them....Those are full of dust,” Neptune whispered, who had gotten the hint to be as quiet as possible and was standing out of view beside Scarlet.

Scarlet shook his head. “We have to do something. Do either of you have any weapons on you?” Having been walking through town without their things, as those had been delivered to Beacon in advance, he was doubtful, but he had his pistol tucked in the waistband of his pants.

Neptune held up his fists and Sage shrugged, pulling out a scroll. “No weapons, but I can call authorities with this.”  
Scarlet huffed impatiently. “Not good enough. While you’re doing that, I’ll stall, see if I can knock some of them out in the process. Neptune, you stay here, if I need help, just try catching them by surprise, punch as many of them in the face as you can. Got it?”

Neptune nodded enthusiastically, and Sage was already punching numbers into his scroll.  
“Okay.” Scarlet took off his jacket and passed it to Neptune, crouching into stance and quieting his footsteps as much as possible. Sneaking into the alleyway, he took to the shadows, blending in. A muffled grunt came from behind him, and he froze, looking up in panic as he alerted the attention of a tall man in a bowler hat.


	2. Chapter 2

_ Shit _ was the only word that came to Scarlet’s mind. He had enough time to wrap his hand around the gun, but it was stuck, and Scarlet was grabbed around the ankles before he could put it to use. Knocked onto his ass, he was dragged further down the alleyway by the grappling hook attached to his boot. Struggling, he tried to kick it off, but reached no avail. Finally it detached, and he found himself with a boot placed directly on his chest.

 

“You weren’t by any chance trying to sneak up on me, were you? Because,” the taller man chuckled, swinging a cane into his hand. “That was a very poor attempt.”

 

Realising that this man was Roman Torchwick, wanted criminal, brought Scarlet David no comfort. He lifted his arms beside him, trying to move attention away from the fact that he was armed.

 

Roman raised an eyebrow, and removed his boot from Scarlet’s chest, and- to Scarlet’s surprise- offered him a gloved hand. “Look, I’m not going to wait all day.”

 

“I.. thank you,” Scarlet shook his head from confusion and took Roman’s hand, standing up and eyeing him cautiously. “And no hard feelings about the shirt,” Roman said as he began dusting off the grime from Scarlet’s shirt. Remembering that Sage had called authorities to the scene, he played along.

 

“Now,” Roman lifted his cane and pointed it at Scarlet, sight popping up on the end. “Where are your friends hiding, _ ‘Red’ _ ?” He winced. “Shit, I called the  _ other _ kid Red. Why do all these weirdos have red hair..?” he muttered.

 

Scarlet gulped, heart racing, and hoped that Neptune could come up with a good distraction. Roman sighed and jerked his chin towards one of the White Fang members with an annoyed look on his face. “Hurry it up, we might have company. And you,” he turned back to Scarlet, “you were reaching for a weapon.”

 

Scarlet took a step back, hands twitching. “How do you know if I’m even armed? You attacked me, remember?”

Roman chuckled, sauntering forwards slowly. “Cute. Well if you didn’t come here for a fight then what, may I ask, is someone like you doing in a place like this?”

Scarlet ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. “Must’ve taken a wrong turn,” he took another step back.

**_C’mon Neptune, I can’t stall forever._ **

Roman flicked his wrist and his cane was around Scarlet’s forearm, and he gave it a tug before he could pull away. Scarlet tumbled forwards, skidding his boots against the pavement as he tried to avoid being slammed into a wall.

  
  


Putting one hand on the wall to right himself, he used the other to pull the gun from his waistband. His back was roughly shoved into the wall and he dropped the pistol.  _ Shit _ was a recurring thought at this point. Bending down to grab the gun, Torchwick kept the tip of his cane pressed to Scarlet’s throat.

“What have we here,” he laughed, spinning the pistol around his finger. “Was that just a gun in your pants, or were you happy to see me?”

 

Scarlet squirmed away from the cane pressing on his windpipe, and sent a kick in the direction of Roman’s hand. 

 

“Are we,” Roman moved the cane to block the kick, leaning in close and bringing the pistol to Scarlet’s throat to intimidate instead. “here  _ again _ ? You didn’t come here for a fight, but you’re certainly trying awful hard to kill me.”

 

For a second, Scarlet’s eyes widened, and he scowled, “Me? Who’s the one with a gun at their throat, raise their hand,” he replied sarcastically, lifting his hands in the air.

 

Roman rolled his eyes and spoke, lower this time. “Intimidation tactic, sweetheart. You think I just go around, killing every random person that walks down the wrong alleyway?” Scarlet squinted, and opened his mouth to respond, which Roman placed a finger on. “Don’t answer that. I’m a thief, which means I have to be good at reading people, and what I read from you is that you’re stalling  _ just _ as much as I am. And I’ll tell you what- just for you- I’ll--”

 

A yell came from the end of the alleyway, and Neptune ran up, swinging his - wait, where did he get his weapon? Scarlet shook his head at his teammate, but it was too late, and Roman deflected the upwards blow with his cane.

 

“You played me,” Roman said through gritted teeth as the shock from Neptune’s charged spear ran through the metal of his cane, almost making him drop it. “Good move, ‘ _ Scarlet’ _ , but we’re done here.” He popped the sight and fired at Neptune, closely missing as Neptune launched himself off the wall.

 

“Wait, you told him your name?!” Neptune shouted, barely dodging the next shot. “Okay that surpasses the level of dumb I could come up with.”

 

Physically- and now mentally shocked- Roman lowered his cane, turning towards Scarlet who had been unarmed and watching the whole fight.

“Okay- what? I mean the first time I was close but that was a joke,” he jumped back, dodging most of the bullets Neptune had fired at him, but missing one that grazed his bicep.

 

Sirens rang out a few blocks away, and Roman scowled. “You brought the  _ cops _ too?” He turned around, gesturing to the remainder of the White Fang to start their getaway vehicle. “Let’s get going!”

 

“Torchwick,” one of them responded shakily, “Van’s ready, but-”

Roman cut him off with a wave of his hand, blocking an attack from Neptune a second later. 

“Then let’s  _ go _ ,” He pushed Neptune over and ran back to where the henchmen awaited- right into Sage, who had dropped from a fire escape. He groaned in frustration, reaching into his coat and tossing a smoke bomb on the ground. 

 

When the smoke cleared, Scarlet, still coughing, looked up to see the van pulling out of the alleyway and Roman in the back, pulling it closed. Before it shut, he swore he saw him wink. Then it dawned on him.

 

“My pistol!” He patted himself down and searched around the alley, but there was no sight of it. “ _ Fuck! _ ”

 

“Whoa,” came a voice from the fire escape Sage had dropped from. “Did I miss something?”

A figure backflipped down, and they were relieved to see it was Sun.

“Dude, where  _ were _ you? Did you see who we just had to fight?” Sage raised his arms in exasperation.

 

“You mean the White Fang I just stole these cool blueprints from?” Sun grinned, putting his arm around Neptune as he approached for a hug.

 

Scarlet paced the ground. “Did you see all the dust they just stole? And that Torchwick guy has my pistol, do you think I’ll ever get that back?”

 

Sun sighed, rubbing his temples.”Look, we can talk about that later, but for now, let’s get out of here; those police sirens are giving me a headache.”

 

The group nodded almost in unison, and they took off across town. Now under Sun’s lead, they were able to flag down an airship to take them to Beacon.


	3. Chapter 3

“So how come Sun brought  _ your _ weapon and not mine in that fight?” Sage asked Neptune back in the suite they were staying in at Beacon. It was a day later and the two of them were still unpacking, while Scarlet had finished hours ago and was watching police reports on his scroll and Sun had vowed that throwing his stuff all over the room  _ was  _ unpacking.

 

“Oh, Sun said some girl heard-” Neptune was cut short by Sun tackling him into a bed.

 

“Anyways,” Sun said, standing up and shaking off his hands. “Since he doesn’t know  _ anything _ ,” he glared at Neptune. “ _ I  _ heard the police sirens and knew you guys were near the area, and I figured, idiots that you are, you’d be right in the middle of it.”

 

“Hey,  _ he’s _ the idiot,” Sage threw a pillow at Neptune, knocking him back down. “If he had seen that guard patrolling the alley quicker and taken him out quieter, Scarlet wouldn’t have gotten attacked. Besides, that’s not what I asked, I asked why Sun’s playing favourites all of a sudden. ”

 

Sun shrugged. “A gun’s easier to conceal; like Scarlet did. Sorry, but I’m not trying to carry your massive sword around in my pants, it’s just not happening.”

 

Sage snorted with laughter. “Yeah, okay, we’ll just  _ not _ talk about whose ‘weapons’ you’re putting in your pants, thank you very much.”

 

“Hey, and I  _ told _ Scarlet I was sorry!” Neptune shouted in self-defense, now trying to deviate from where the conversation had gone. “Tell ‘em.”

 

“Hm?” Scarlet looked up from his scroll. “Sorry, I’m just.. busy..” he trailed off, focusing in on the screen once more.

 

“Hey, what’s on there that’s so interesting anyways?” Sun jumped up from the chair he had seated himself on moments ago and leaped up onto Scarlet’s headboard, snatching the scroll out of his hands.

 

Scarlet made a feeble attempt to grap it back, but was in no mood to play monkey-not-in-the-middle. He sighed and leaned back. “It’s Roman.”

 

“Yeah, I see that, buddy,” Sun replied, eyes widening in disbelief. “Did you download  _ every _ broadcast he’s mentioned in?”

 

Scarlet shrugged, uncomfortable with all the eyes on him. “Not the ones he’s  _ mentioned _ in, just the ones talking about what he’s done-”

 

“Which is all of them.” Sage pointed out.

 

Scarlet shook his head dismissively. “I’m looking for a way to learn to fight this guy. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing him again.”

 

Sun shook his head and passed the scroll back to Scarlet. “Just don’t get too obsessed with this, man. I know you spent a long time on that gun, but-”

 

“This isn’t about the gun. That I can remake.” Scarlet put his scroll in his jacket pocket and reached for the doorknob, refusing to continue the conversation. A knock at the door made him hesitate a moment. When he opened it, he didn’t recognize the man on the other side, and he assumed it was a student from one of the other schools.

 

“Judging from the hair, you must be Scarlet,” said the grey-haired boy, passing Scarlet an envelope. “This was delivered to me by mistake.”

 

At mention of his name, he almost turned that colour, wondering if it was that obvious for everyone to guess his name. For a second, he considered dying it to throw people off.

 

“I.. yeah. Thanks.” he took the letter awkwardly, tucking it in his waistband. “Are you from one of the other schools?”

 

“Mercury.” he nodded. 

 

Scarlet nodded awkwardly, sensing he wasn’t open to conversation. “Well, uh.. thanks.”

 

“You said that.” Mercury responded, walking down the corridor to meet up with a green haired woman standing outside a room.

 

Closing the door, Scarlet retreated back to his bed to read the letter. His name was written on the red envelope in fancy script, and as he opened it he pondered who it could be from. He paused, fingers on the opening flap of the paper, and he looked up, seeing his teammates staring.

 

“What?”

 

“Out of all of us here, I’d have expected  _ me _ to be the one getting a love letter- Ow!” Sun had elbowed Neptune in the chest, and shook his head at him. 

 

“Who’s it from?” Sun sauntered over, resting on the bed next to Scarlet.

 

Scarlet scoffed, turning his body to face Sun. “You mind not reading my personal mail?”

 

Sun raised his hands in defeat, and occupied himself with kicking at a pile of clothes on the other side of the room.

Scarlet took the likewise red letter from its envelope, unfolding it carefully.

 

“ _ I have something you want. _

_ You have something I need. _

_ Bring your friends, we can make this a party. _

 

_       P.S Bring the uniformed friends like last time and this deal is through.” _

  
  


At the bottom was directions to one of the warehouses in town, and below that, the signature of what looked like a jack-o-lantern.

 

Scarlet shook his head in disbelief. “He wants a rematch.”

 

Sun turned to face Scarlet, bringing his hands from their position on his hips and crossed them against his chest. “What are you going to do?”

 

Scarlet blinked at Sun, as if the answer was obvious. “I’m going to rebuild my gun.” He carefully folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. “First, I’m going to bring this to Ozpin, he can do something; right?”

 

Sun smiled and nodded. “Headmaster's office is that big pretentious looking one, he should be there.”

 

Scarlet grabbed his jacket and some blueprints he’d hidden under his bed. “Then I’m going to get to work on that gun. You said one of your friends is really into weapons, yeah? Ruby? I’ll find her and ask for some help. I’ll probably be gone all night, I want to do some exploring around campus.”

 

Neptune hopped up from lounging on his bed. “Hey, I’ll come with you.”

 

“No offense man, but I want to be able to find my way back. I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.” Scarlet chuckled, opening the door to leave.

 

“See you soon,” Sun nodded at him. 

 

Scarlet nodded back, and shut the door. There was a shout behind him, “Hey, he forgot his scroll!” and the door opened once again, but Scarlet had already run for the stairs.


	4. Chapter 4

He had felt bad lying to his friends like that, but they couldn’t know what he was really doing. Letter in hand, he navigated the streets of the new and confusing city. From what he gathered, he was nearby.

 

He hadn’t lied to them, not really. He did go to Ozpin for help- he needed an airdrop to town. And he really did plan on seeing Ruby- he wanted to get to know Sun’s new friends. But most of all, he wasn’t lying when he said it wasn’t about the gun. He could easily waste several hours per day, weeks on end to make the perfect gun. This was about motives. First fight he was ever in- against someone wanted for  _ murder _ no less, and he got off with less than a warning.

 

Okay sure, so the letter sounded like a trap, but if he was right about Roman… he’d be fine.

 

The map was close to it’s end, and all that was in sight was a small, abandoned shack that stood out amidst the tall buildings and grey warehouses. It must’ve been a mistake- he marked the wrong building on the map or something. Scarlet double-checked, then triple-checked the map to see that it was right. Sighing, he opened the creaky wooden door and saw a trapdoor near the corner of the empty room. He opened it, and saw a large set of dimly lit stairs. He took a deep breath, heart racing, and descended.

 

His footsteps rang out against the metal of the steps, and he tried quieting them by slowing down, but his nerves were begging him to get this over with. He reached the bottom and faced a large concrete room, as dimly lit as the staircase, but for the bright spotlight near the centre of the room.

 

There was no one there.

 

Scarlet didn’t want to call out and bring unwanted attention to himself, but he had a strange feeling of being trapped down there. He turned around, facing every angle of the room to see if he missed anything, and he looked at the letter one last time before tucking it into his pocket. 

 

He turned around and made to leave. “What a waste of time.”

 

Scarlet heard laughter coming from the shadows, and he whipped his head around, looking for the source of noise. A clang rang out just past the spotlight; it seemed there was another set of stairs on the opposite side of the room.

And someone was walking down them. 

 

Scarlet’s heart was beating like a drum.

“Hello, gorgeous.” Roman Torchwick stepped into view, with ever the dramatic flair that a man wielding a cane and wearing a bowler hat could manage.

 

Scarlet nodded shakily. “Well? I came.”

He took a few tentative steps forwards.

 

“So you did,” Roman responded, leaning on his cane. “And you came alone,” he chuckled. “Can’t you read?”

 

Scarlet shook his head, gaining enough confidence to walk forwards to meet Roman in the spotlight. “I didn’t come for a fight.” he slid the blueprints out of his sleeve, holding them out to Roman.

 

Roman stared at the schematics for a moment, brushing them aside and stared Scarlet in the eyes. “Surprised your little friends let you come. Blue was  _ really _ out for blood.”

 

Scarlet stared back, and- against gut feeling- decided to be honest. “They don’t know I’m here. I left behind anything they could track me with.”

 

Roman laughed loudly. “Secret nighttime rendezvous, is that what this is?” he took a step forwards, cupping Scarlet’s jaw in his gloved hand. “Darling, you’ve made a  _ big _ mistake.”

 

Fear was scarcely a thought to Scarlet at that moment. A wide grin spread across his face, and he laughed. “You’d be very intimidating, except for the fact that I don’t believe a word of it.”

 

Confusion flashed across Roman’s face, quickly replaced by a look of annoyance, and he brought his hand back, crossing his arms against his chest. “If there’s a joke, I’m missing it.”

 

Scarlet got a smug look on his face and crossed his arms. “Of all the people to be afraid of, a man who- despite threats- never kills, isn’t one of them. I’ve studied your patterns- you’ve never attacked someone first, you stall your fights and go for the getaway, and that murder charge was a completely separate event that has no proof it was you. Face it, Roman- you’re harmless.” he chuckled.

 

“And yet, you walked into my domain shaking in your boots,” he waved his cane around for effect. “You have no idea how many  _ dozens _ of my thugs are just  _ waiting _ for the order to take you down.”

 

“You could’ve killed me back in that alleyway if you wanted to, and gotten out of there with as much ease as you did by, by..” he licked his lips, searching for the right answer. “Flirting with me! What you are Roman, is a coward.” Scarlet leaned forwards, sneering.

 

“You seem to know so  _ very _ much about me, I’m starting to think this is becoming  _ obsessive _ . You were  _ waiting _ for me to call you here. I bet you’re not even after this.” Roman removed the pistol from a jacket pocket, tossing it across the floor. Scarlet didn’t move his eyes from Roman. 

“And  _ this _ ,” he threw the blueprints down, “Isn’t even that important to you, I bet! So what are you after, huh? Why am I here?”

 

“I could ask you the  _ same _ thing, pretty boy!” Roman retaliated, poking Scarlet in the chest with a gloved finger.

 

“You just did!” Scarlet yelled. Roman tossed his cane to the floor, and, grabbing Scarlet’s wrist with his free hand, pulled him close, kissing him roughly on the mouth. Scarlet’s jacket was shrugged off his shoulder as he lifted his hands to Roman’s neck, placing a hand against his jaw.

 

After a few moments they pulled apart, breathing heavily and neither looking at the other. Scarlet didn’t want to talk about how badly he’d wanted to do that, in fact, he was more content with accepting that he hated him. This night was just not going how he wanted it to go, and wasn’t sure where things were going from here.

 

His mind was racing, but he was sure of one thing: he’d liked it.

 

Turning away, he stared at the ground- only at the ground, he couldn’t bear to look at anything else, not with his heart beating the way it was. Scarlet picked up his jacket from the floor, shrugging it back on and going against everything his heart was saying;  _ turn around, just  _ **_look_ ** _ at him.  _ He calmed his breath as much as possible, raising his head and standing straight, looking at the exit ahead of him. 

 

“This was a mistake,” he said, voice shaking, and strutted towards the stairs with as much strength as he could muster. Roman, thankfully, stayed silent. Scarlet was sure that- had he spoken- he’d have run right back- to kiss him again or punch him, he wasn’t sure. Reaching the top of the staircase, stepping out into the cool night air, Scarlet headed home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohh boy have I rewritten this chapter a lot, and I'm still not satisifed with it. Also, I'm not quite sure about the beginning bit, with the airdrop mention? Mostly because I'm not entirely cetain how tf they get to and from Beacon.


	5. Chapter 5

Roman waited until Scarlet was gone to finally breathe. It wasn’t so much of a _what were you thinking_ moment, as much of a _I can’t believe I acted on that_ _thought_. Roman sighed, shaking his head at his own stupidity as he headed toward the steps at the back of the warehouse.

 

“Follow him, Roman. See he doesn’t have any tricks up his sleeve. We wouldn’t want him going to the authorities and stopping our little.. operations, now would we?” Cinder Fall’s voice rang out in the darkness and she stepped out of the shadows, heels clicking against the metal walkway above. 

 

Roman sighed. “Why don’t you get one of the kids to do it?” he argued halfheartedly, not one bit surprised that she had followed him there.

 

Cinder’s eyes flashed, and she brought a hand to her hip. “You know perfectly well I can’t risk blowing their cover. Or mine. Besides, it’d take too long- he runs to them now, tomorrow will be too late.”

 

Roman rolled his eyes, turning towards the shadows. “Well,” he sighed. “I’ll be back whenever. Don’t forget to call me back for dinner,  _ mother _ .”

 

He heard a sizzle behind him, dodging just in time for a fireball to sail through the air where his head was, smashing into the wall in front of him. “And for goodness sake, try not to burn it this time!” he shouted back mockingly as he sauntered out the warehouse door.

 

He pulled a cigar from his breast pocket, fumbling around in his coat to find his lighter. He cursed under his breath, being reminded that Emerald had stolen his favourite one. Roman groaned and took a few steps back into the main body of the warehouse. 

 

“And Cinder, darling-” he started out, waiting for the appropriate response. She appeared once again from the shadows to see Roman waving his cigar in the air, smirk on his face. A roll of her eyes and a wave of her hand later, the cigar was lit, and she pointed with aggression towards the exit. Roman bowed, smirk still present on his face, and tucked the cigar between his lips, once again leaving the warehouse.

 

“Now,” he puffed out smoke, glancing around the silent city. “If I were having conflicting thoughts about  _  morals _ , where would I go?”

 

He chuckled, and headed out into the darkness.


	6. Chapter 6

Scarlet had to stop himself from walking, he was having such a hard time navigating the city. He had paid attention when Sun brought them to Beacon, but his mind was so removed from his surroundings, he was soon going to find himself more lost than ever.

 

He slouched against the brick wall behind a shop, leaning his head back and breathing deeply. He had to sort himself out before returning to his teammates. Mostly, he had to confront himself on why he’d kissed back. Logical response would be that feelings told him to, but feelings and logic didn’t exactly tango well.  _ Spur of the moment _ , he decided to chalk it up to. Despite all he’d mentioned back in the warehouse about Roman being a coward, he was a dangerous one, and he had plenty of blood on his hands, whether he be the one that put it there or not. 

 

It’d be stupid to get involved, and too tricky to hide. He pounded his fist against the wall, pushing himself off of it. When he returned to his team, he’d explain it was a foolish venture, he’d gone out looking to help in some way, take out one of the big players of this grand game Vale was consumed with. It failed, he was back, that was it. No more. Focus on the tournament, find someone that wasn’t a dangerous crimelord to have a crush on.

 

“This isn’t a crush,” he mumbled out loud to convince himself. It was an accident. Things had gotten out of hand. It hadn’t ended in violence, and that was what mattered, right? He had walked away with his life, and he had walked away safely. No way in hell Roman would follow him out here- he got what he wanted; Scarlet hadn’t even gotten his gun back.

 

A shuffling noise caught his attention and Scarlet ducked into an alleyway, making as little noise as possible. He counted his breaths, waiting until he heard the noise get closer. When the noise stopped altogether, he jumped out of the alleyway, looking the direction he came from. Confusion set in when there was nothing out of the ordinary. He was about to turn around and head for home, just decide the noise he heard was nerves, when he heard a voice directly behind him. 

 

“Looking for someone?” 

 

Scarlet reacted so quickly- swinging his arm out and pinning the person who spoke against the wall- that it didn’t even register who it was until he had done it.

 

“Roman?”

 

“Ow,  _ easy, _ ” came the reply, as Roman began fixing his coat. “This jacket was expensive, you know.”

 

Scarlet frowned. “Why are you following me?” He grabbed Roman’s coat and shoved him harder against the wall, for good measure. 

 

“ _ Watch the jacket _ ,” he growled, shoving Scarlet back. “Believe me, this wasn’t my idea; this is the  _ last _ place I want to be.” He brushed his sleeves of the brick dust that had gathered on them. “Besides, after that, I’m not surprised at how quickly you took the chance to shove me against a wall.”

 

Scarlet shook his head, glaring at Roman. “That was your doing,  _ not _ mine.” He kicked at the ground, for lack of better things to do with his body. “As I recall, you pushed me into a wall first. Twice, actually. And the ground..”

 

Roman shrugged. “And I kissed you first, I get it; this becoming a pattern with you?” He walked closer, cornering Scarlet. “Because I’ll have you know, I can do  _ so _ much worse.”

 

Scarlet squinted, crossing his arms. “Wait a second… If you don’t want to be here, then why  _ are _ you?”

 

Roman rubbed the back of his neck; clearly he was hoping to avoid this. “I don’t want you going to the cops. Things could get messy; I’d have to track you down and kill you.. Too much work, and to be honest,  _ not _ a lot of fun.”

 

“But it ..wasn’t your idea.” Scarlet stated; it wasn’t a question. Realization overcame him, and his eyes widened. “We weren’t alone back there. I thought you were bluffing.”

 

Roman shrugged, leaning back against the wall adjacent to where Scarlet was standing. He reached in his coat for a cigar, swearing when he noticed again that he had no lighter. He placed the cigar back in his pocket, and pulled a pistol from a spot on his belt. “You left this. What, may I ask, were you thinking when you approached me with a gun that wasn’t loaded?”

 

Scarlet grabbed the gun, chuckling as he strapped it to his thigh. “What was it you said to me?  _ ‘intimidation tactic, sweetheart’ _ ?”

 

Roman laughed, crossing his arms. “Well, you’ve got me there.” Scarlet swore he winked again.

 

They stood in silence for a few moments, Scarlet not making a move to leave and Roman not making a move to stop him. He stared at Roman, going over his thoughts from the past few minutes. He’d told himself to forget everything, but if this was where he kept ending up.. He gave himself three options: option one was to stick to that, just walk out of here and go back to Beacon without further giving Roman a reason to follow; option two was trickier, involving turning him into the cops like the plan had been several times before, a riskier plan, and therefore out of the question for now; option three.. option three was to see where this goes. Option three was the most out the the question of all of them.

 

Roman smirked, raising an eyebrow and putting a hand on his hips. “You’ve been staring a long time.”

 

Scarlet bit his lip, pushing himself off the wall. “To hell with it.”

 

He strode towards Roman, hooking his fingers under the cloth around his neck and pulling downwards. He kissed him as roughly as he’d been kissed not an hour ago. Roman smirked against his mouth and spun him around, standing so he was the dominant one, with Scarlet pressed against the wall. 

 

Hands lingered against Scarlet’s waist, pulling him in close. Scarlet’s hands once again navigated themselves to Roman’s neck. Despite the warnings not to, Scarlet gripped tightly to his jacket, using it as an anchor when Roman’s interest- and his mouth- lingered towards his neck.

 

“Could you,” Scarlet groaned, biting his lip. “Maybe  _ not _ do that.”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Roman mumbled, pressing his teeth lightly against Scarlet’s neck.

 

Scarlet gritted his teeth. “Don’t. That’s going to show.”

 

“Well in that case, I’ll do it again.”

 

Scarlet hit his fist against Romans shoulder, inhaling a sharp breath when he bit harder. He hit him again. 

 

Roman laughed, pulling away. “Well if you don’t want me teasing you, then what are we doing here?”

 

Scarlet smirked, using his grip on the jacket to steer Roman into the opposite wall of the alleyway. “Returning the favour.”

He pressed his lips against Roman’s neck, who chuckled softly. “Y’know, I could really get used to this pattern thing we have going, if-” his next words were cut off by a soft moan, and Scarlet smirked against his collarbone.

 

The sound of a patrol closing in broke them apart, and Scarlet looked between Roman and the source of sound with a look of panic on his face. “What do we do?”

 

“You’re fine,” Roman slid a hand across Scarlet’s shoulder. “It’s  _ me _ that’s fucked.” He straightened his jacket and picked up his cane off the ground, swinging it around anxiously. 

 

“Well,  _ we _ gotta go! I can’t be seen here either.”

 

Roman held up a finger, motioning for Scarlet to stop talking. He scanned the alleyways and rooftops. “Troops are coming from that direction,” he pointed in front of them. “You go  _ that _ way,” here he pointed at a small side-street attached off of the alley they were in. “And I head them off by taking that ladder up to the rooftops.”

 

Scarlet took note of the separate locations. “That means-”

 

“What; you didn’t actually think you’d be bringing me  _ home _ with you, did you?” Roman chuckled, softly placing a kiss against Scarlet’s jaw. “But I’ll give you something to cover that up with.” He winked, and nodded at his neck, and removed a bit of cloth from his jacket in a flourishing motion. He brought it around Scarlet’s neck and tugged him forwards, tying it in a knot. “Keep it; it looks good on you.”

 

Scarlet nodded, and wracked his brain for what to say. ‘ _ Thank you’ _ ? ‘ _ When will I see you again’ _ ?  _ ‘Fuck off and leave me alone now’ _ ? None of them worked, so he nodded again, and took off down the alley. Glancing back as he ran, Roman was gone.


	7. Chapter 7

Roman climbed down the fire escape of the building he was on, now well out of sight of city patrol. He barely made a noise when he dropped down from the metal onto concrete. He whistled, swung his cane in a wide circle, and made his way back to the warehouse.

 

He was most of the way there when he stopped suddenly. “I know you’re there.” He’d known for most of his walk, but he wasn’t in the mood for playing cat and mouse anymore. 

 

A shadow seemed to shimmer in the darkness, and a small girl appeared next to him, parasol closed and held in both hands across her thighs. 

 

“Neo,” he said almost scoldingly. She smirked and cocked her head, eyes flickering from pink to brown. “I don’t think you’ll need to worry about that one; he’s harmless as a kitten.”

 

Neo pointed at her own neck, one eyebrow arched in a mischievous look paired with the ever-present smirk on her face. 

 

Roman rolled his eyes, absentmindedly tossing his cane between his hands. “Yes, and apparently kittens  _ bite _ , it doesn’t mean they’ll actually try to  _ kill _ you.”

 

Neo frowned and tucked her umbrella under her armpit, making wild hand motions towards Roman. 

 

“Of  _ course _ I’m still suspicious, I’m just saying I don’t need you  _ watching. _ I can handle this one myself.” 

 

Neo put her fingers over her mouth, imitating a giggle.

 

Roman dragged his hand down his face. “Fucks sake, that sounded bad. It’s not far from the truth though.” He busied himself with straightening his sleeves. “Actually, that’s probably closer to the truth than I’d care to admit. Don’t tell Cinder.” he smirked.

 

Neo brought her fingers across her lips in a zipping motion. She lifted her parasol up above her head and it clicked open. She took a step forwards and offered Roman her arm, who accepted by linking elbows. The air seemed to freeze, and anyone looking down the alley would see nothing but darkness.

 

Upon walking into the basement of the warehouse, Neo dropped the illusion, mildly scaring Mercury, making him jump at their sudden appearance.

 

“ _ Shit _ ,” he muttered, shaking his head and pacing in slow patterns around the floor.

 

“Oh, Cinder failed to mention we were  _ babysitting _ ,” Roman chided, sauntering over to the pair. “Emerald.”

 

“Roman.” She narrowed her eyes as he brushed past her. Neo had vaulted herself up onto one of the metal walkways, and was dangling her legs over the edge, watching the conversation.

 

“So,” Roman pulled a cigar from his pocket, lighting it up with his newly re-stolen lighter. “Did either of you actually get  _ anything _ accomplished today?”

 

Emerald patted down her pockets and cursed under her breath. “We- hey, looks who’s talking! There isn’t even any more dust here, what have  _ you _ been doing?”

 

Mercury snickered. “Yeah, and look at his neck,” he muttered to Emerald.

 

Emerald narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. “So you’re lecturing  _ us _ \- while  _ we’ve _ been working, you’ve been off doing who-knows what with who-knows- _ who _ .”

 

“You think this is bad, you should see the other guy,” Roman muttered, grinning to himself.

 

“Who was it?”

 

Roman huffed a laugh, blowing smoke through his teeth. “I don’t kiss and tell, darling.”

 

Mercury jerked his chin towards Emerald. “It was Scarlet. I read the letter. Seems like someone had a date,” he laughed.

 

Roman shook his head, retreating to the table at the back of the room. “Well since you’re so full of knowledge,” he said sarcastically, swinging his cane to point at the blueprints lying on the table. “Then you can educate everyone on what this is.”

 

Mercury blinked. “That’s a piece of paper, Torchwick.” he said slowly, making Emerald snicker.

 

“Why do I put up with this shit…” he muttered. “No matter; I didn’t expect you to know.” He flattened the blueprints with his cane, revealing the layout of a facility, complete with red marker laying out his plan. “Who’s ready to rob us some Atlas tech?”


	8. Chapter 8

It was kind of a blur how Scarlet got back to Beacon, but he noticed that he was later returning than he’d wanted to be.

 

Scarlet was so distracted, he nearly ran into Sage- who, luckily enough, was paying attention- when rounding a corner. 

“Whoa, slow down!” Sage said, patting Scarlet on the shoulder. “Where have you been? Sun’s been looking everywhere.”

 

Scarlet shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. “I told you guys I was heading out, I was going to-”

 

Sage crossed his arms, an unimpressed expression settling on his face. “To rebuild your gun?” He pointedly glanced down at the firearm attached to Scarlet’s hip. “That didn’t take long.”

 

His face went red. “I.. Okay, I know what this looks like, but I snuck in to-”

 

“And is that.. you’re covered in bruises, Scarlet!” he swatted Scarlet’s hand away from his neck, turning his chin to get a better look. Scarlet felt his heart drop into his stomach. “Did you just run in there, guns blazing? No, of course you didn’t, you didn’t have your guns. Or..  _ any _ of your weapons for that matter.. How  _ exactly _ did you pull this off?” Sage asked, his voice a mixture of suspicion and admiration. 

 

Scarlet sighed, going over the story in his mind for was must have been the eighteenth time. “I snuck in, but the place was empty; I don’t know if he just didn’t expect me to come or wasn’t looking for an actual fight. I found my gun, tried searching around for a bit for clues on what they were doing, but he found me, must’ve got me on my way out.”  he’d only added the last part in because Sage had pointed out the mark on his neck. And it wasn’t all  _ completely _ a lie; there was some vague truth to it all. He just left out one detail.

 

“Care to explain where those blueprints I stole earlier are, Scarlet?” Sun asked, sauntering up to the pair from across the hall. How long he’d been there, Scarlet had no idea. “I mean, I trust you, man, but this… This doesn’t look good.” He frowned, sticking his hands in his pockets.

 

Scarlet brought a hand to his face, rubbing his temples. “Okay, look. I brought it as a leverage tool just in case I got in trouble. I set it on fire when they they caught me, and I guess it pissed Roman off enough to give me this.” He gestured vaguely to his neck, shrugging so his bandana covered it once again.

 

“And you’re sure you weren’t followed?” Sun’s face was a mask of worry. “Because honestly, I just want this whole thing to be over with-” he paused, narrowing his eyes. “Wait, what  _ actually _ happened? How did you get a bruise just on your neck?” 

 

Scarlet opened his mouth to respond, but Sun cut him off. “No one wears something over their neck for a  _ bruise _ ,” he turned to Sage and used air quotations. “If anything, our boy Scarlet here..” he pulled the bandana away. “He was making out with someone! Who was she?”

 

Sage shrugged. “Or he.”

 

Sun nodded enthusiastically. “Dude, you don’t need to make up a story for that. ”

 

Scarlet blinked, relieved that they hadn’t added two and two together. “It was.. uh...” Now the hard part was coming up with another lie.

 

Sun scoffed, looking at Sage. “You see this guy? He doesn’t even know,” He turned back to Scarlet. “Since when do you go around kissing random people?”

 

“Look, I don’t know. I think last night just.. got to me. If I see him again, I’ll let you know.” Scarlet rubbed his temples and wondered how many white lies he could get away with.

 

Sun nodded. “I’m glad you were able to get your gun back. And keep what Roman wanted out of his hands. Now, I gotta go tell Neptune you finally got some,” and he bounded off towards their dorm, but stopped short, turning around to address the last issue. “Just.. next time you run off to danger, let us know the reason you’re coming back late is because you’re.. y’know,  _ not dead. _ I’m still worried about this Roman business.” Scarlet nodded, and Sun ran off again.

 

The air became uncomfortable between Scarlet and Sage, the latter of whom had his arms crossed. “You smell like cigar smoke.” he said nonchalantly before going to join Sun.

 

_ I’m so fucked. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never been entirely content with this chapter; I feel like I left some things out. If it read a bit strange, let me know and I'll try to fix it!


	9. Chapter 9

The next night, a loud noise woke Scarlet. That loud noise being his noisiest teammates trying to sneak back into their dorm. Scarlet sat up, still half asleep and groggy. “Weren’t you two.. team RWBY?”

 

Neptune threw himself at the foot of Scarlet’s bed, practically bouncing when he sat down. “Oh,  _ man _ it was cool. I mean, Sun got chased halfway across town and we got thrown off a bridge, but I got to go to this weird, sketchy  _ bar _ and me and Sun grabbed noodles after and-”

 

Scarlet shook his head. “Okay, what? Sun?”

 

Sun shrugged. “I guess Roman had another copy of those plans, buddy. He chased Blake and I down with a fuckin’  _ Atlas Paladin _ . Crazy, right?”

 

“So, are your friends okay?” Scarlet asked, now fully awake and stomach heavy with dread.

 

Sun shrugged again, flopping down on his bed. “Dunno. I mean, Blake can handle herself, and I know Yang’s a fucking menace. Weiss.. fuck, she scares me too. They’ll be fine.”

 

“So wait, you got knocked out of a battle and just.. left your friends to go on a date?”

 

There was silence, as Neptune and Sun exchanged glances. “Yeah, pretty much.” Sun nodded.

 

Scarlet shook his head. “Damn it. If I had known that’s what those plans were for..”

 

Neptune gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Hey, Sage told us you destroyed them. It’s not your fault, right?”

 

Scarlet nodded shakily. “I shouldn’t have been so careless with them.” He threw off the covers and stood up, pulling on a pair of pants. “I need to go for a walk.”

 

“Sun told me about your admirer! Don’t be too long!” Neptune shouted as Scarlet closed the door behind him. There was a loud thump when the door closed, and Scarlet assumed they had woken up Sage.

 

Scarlet shook his head, wandering off to nowhere in particular. Walking past a window, he  noticed it was light outside now; he must have overslept. He made his way outside and sat on the nearest bench, pulling out his scroll and flipping through messages for the first time in almost a week. Not much new, except for pictures of animals that Neptune had sent him and a couple messages from unknown numbers. He checked the first one out, and- judging from the spoiled rich-girl tone- he assumed it to be from Weiss, wondering where the hell Neptune was, and ‘by the way, why has no one met you yet?’

 

He sighed and checked his voicemail. From an unlisted number, and almost nothing but static. He was about to chalk it up to a pocket dial when he heard a familiar chuckle. He paused and waited to hear if he was imagining things or not, but there was nothing but silence. Scarlet tried doing a quick trace of the number and where the signal was coming from, but it led to a vague area in the city. Opening up a new message he typed up a quick note, asking if the owner of the scroll was who he thought it was, then to meet him the next night. Sighing once again, he closed his scroll without sending the message. Scarlet stood and headed to the library- he wanted to be in a quiet place to work some things out. As he rounded the corner, he bumped into the two students he met earlier.

 

Scarlet would have sworn he walked into a metal pole if it wasn’t for Mercury standing right in front of him; it must have been his semblance making his legs so tough. 

 

“Shit- sorry,” Scarlet tried skirting around the two, but they had the doorway blocked. 

 

“Hey, Scarlet, right?” Mercury gestured to him. Scarlet nodded. “This is the guy whose mail they keep delivering us.”

 

Puzzled, Scarlet cocked his head to the side. “Again?”

 

Mercury smirked, and the green haired girl fished another letter out of her bag. “I’m Emerald by the way, nice to meet you Scarlet.”

 

Scarlet’s eyes widened, and he tried to keep his cool as he grabbed the letter and tucked it into his jacket. “I uh, thanks. You too.”

 

The pair finally moved from the doorway, and made to leave, letting Scarlet past. 

 

“By the way,” Mercury said as he was leaving, smirk on his face as usual. “There’s a little something on your neck.”

Scarlet’s face went red and his hand went to his neck, adjusting the bandana tighter. 

 

Emerald giggled from a ways ahead of Mercury, and Scarlet ducked into the library without another word.

 

He found a secluded spot in the corner and, completely forgetting all other thoughts, opened the envelope, noting this one smelled faintly of smoke. Carefully, he removed the letter. 

 

_ We’re playing a dangerous game, you and I. Only this one has no winners. It might even go on longer than anticipated; I’ll see you again so we can resume. _

 

The bottom of the letter had no emblem. This time,  _ R.T.  _ was scribbled in the corner, and a  _ PS.  _ was written just below.

 

_ Don’t expect any more letters; I’ll be in touch by some other means. _

 

Scarlet leaned his head back against the wall and took a deep breath. He glanced around the library and carefully folded the letter back up, tucking it back into his jacket. He reached for his scroll, and found it was missing.


	10. Chapter 10

Roman sauntered into the main room of the warehouse, having just finished ordering around White Fang members to pack up dust shipments. To his dismay, Mercury and Emerald were already there, and not unexpectedly, Mercury was talking.

 

“... who I think you are, I want you to meet me tomorrow night; you know where to find me. I’ll save you a dance.” he read almost sarcastically from a scroll.

 

Roman sighed, lighting up a cigar. “Congrats kid; sounds like you’ve got a hot date.”

 

Mercury shook his head, feigning innocence. “Not at all, but it sounds like  _ you _ do.” He tossed the scroll in Roman’s direction, who caught it with quick reflexes.

 

Roman shut the scroll almost as quickly as he’d caught it. “Now, what did I tell you kids about stealing?”

 

Emerald scoffed, and put on a fake voice. “Uhh..  _ Pay attention sweetheart, you might learn something _ .” 

 

Roman clapped his hands together. “Good, you remembered. And did  _ not _ heed my advice, it seems. Do  _ not _ . Under  _ any _ circumstances, leave a trace. By stealing  _ this _ ,” he waved the scroll in his hands. “You may as well have just set off a flare leading to our location. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if-” the scroll buzzed, chiming loudly that there was a new message. He stared at the scroll for a second, and tucked it into his pocket.

 

Emerald leaned forwards, arms crossed. “You’re not going to see if that was your  _ boyfriend _ looking for whoever stole his phone?”

 

Roman chuckled. “Not a chance. But I’ll see this returned.”

 

Mercury snorted. “Yeah, you’re just going to walk right into Beacon. Give it here,” he held out his hand. “I’ll give it back.”

 

“Not a chance in hell, hothead. Besides,” he smirked, taking a few steps backwards. “I’ve got a date tomorrow night.”


	11. Chapter 11

Scarlet grumbled, tossing Sun’s scroll back to him. “No luck?” he asked, clumsily trying to tie a long strip of fabric around his neck. Scarlet shook his head. “Nothing. They haven’t even been read.”

 

Neptune had made his way across the room and had swatted Sun’s hands away from the tie, knotting it together properly.

 

Scarlet shrugged, uncomfortable in his vest. “Why is it you want me to go, again?” He was less enthusiastic about going to his friends’ dance when they’d all told him they had ‘ _ dates’ _ of their own; Sun would be going with Blake and Neptune was hoping to meet up with Weiss there. Sage hadn’t told him he’d had a date, but he’d been invited to party with team CFVY- an invitation extended to him after he’d spent four hours talking with Yatsuhashi about sword techniques. Add to that the fact that he’d gotten no word out to Roman, he’d most likely be spending the evening alone. 

“Hey, you’re our friend, why wouldn’t we want you around?”

 

“It’s not like I’ll actually  _ be _ around you guys, Sun. You all have dates.” 

 

“Maybe someone will finally return your scroll,” Neptune chimed in. “And hey, what about that guy you’ve been seeing? Won’t he be there?”

 

Scarlet laughed awkwardly. “No, I doubt he’ll show up. He’s not very social.”

 

Sage stared at Scarlet, having stopped messing with his tie for a moment to do so. Scarlet cleared his throat, hoping the tension would pass, and stood from his bed. “You guys are taking forever. Can we just go now?”

 

Sun shrugged. “I’m ready, what about you guys?”

 

Sage shook his head. “I need a minute. You two go ahead; we’ll meet you there.”

 

Scarlet couldn’t help but notice that he was being sent with a bodyguard; Sage still didn’t trust him over the.. incident last week. He hadn’t had enough time to formulate a fake person to make up for him seeing Roman. 

 

He nodded to Sage as he left the room with Sun, as the latter pointed a pair of finger guns at Neptune. “Come on, hot-shot, you’ll be late for your date.”


	12. Chapter 12

Sun had left Scarlet not long after leaving their dorm, wanting to go look for Blake. Scarlet offered to escort himself to the dance, not wanting to interfere.

 

When he arrived, he was greeted by a bouncy blonde. “Hey, you’re Scarlet!” When a confused expression crossed his face, she laughed. “Neptune talks about you a lot; I’m Yang.” 

 

“Oh. Yeah, Sun talks about you a lot too. Well, mostly Blake, but…” Scarlet bounced on his feet, not knowing how to continue a conversation with Yang. “So.. Neptune mentioned you were all in a fight? How’d that go?” 

 

“Oh man, we kicked  _ butt _ !” Yang pumped her fist in the air in excitement. “Roman didn’t stand a  _ chance _ ,” She laughed. “Blake was slashing shit up, and Weiss joined in and just  _ annihilated  _ that Paladin. Then I punched it and it just  _ burst  _ into pieces. Oh, and Ruby helped!” She frowned slightly, staring off into the corner. “Fucker got away though. I’m gonna kick that little ice-cream girl’s ass.”

 

Scarlet ignored the relief flooding his chest, and shook his head. “ _ Ice cream girl… _ ? You know what, nevermind. He got away when we fought him too. I mean, obviously, but..”

 

Yang flashed a smile and winked, aiming a finger-gun at Scarlet. “ _ Nice _ . Fella needs an ass-kicking more than most, if you ask me. Call me up if you fight him again, I wanna join!”

 

Scarlet laughed. “Noted.” He noticed Yang had started looking over his shoulder, and he looked back to see Sun and Blake approaching. He ducked out of the way and headed towards the opposite end of the room.

 

Scarlet stepped out onto the balcony, breathing a sigh of relief. He was enjoying himself, but there was something else on his mind; he didn’t want to distract his friends from having a good time. He glanced back into the room, seeing Sun and Neptune dancing- very  _ badly _ \- with Blake, and he chuckled at the sight. He moved along the balcony to an obscured walkway behind the building.

 

A shadow flickered into shape a little ways in front of him, and Scarlet’s breath caught in his throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm almost caught up with posting what I've already got, so please bear with me as I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to write recently


	13. Chapter 13

“Don’t like parties?” The flickering flame of a lighter brought close illuminated Roman’s face as he stepped out from under the overhang of the building he was leaning against.

 

Scarlet smiled and brushed his hair back. “Never been a fan.”

 

Roman shook his head. “That’s  _ awfully _ convenient. I’ve never been one for crowds, myself.” He sauntered up, closing much of the distance between himself and Scarlet. 

 

“I’d ask you how you knew I was here, but you  _ did _ say you’d be in touch,” he pulled a corner of the letter out from his pocket, proving he’d received it.

 

Roman laughed. “You carry it around with you?”

 

Scarlet ducked his head, laughing slightly. “Not really- no not all the time, I just.. don’t want anyone to find it.”

 

“Really, because,” Roman put a hand on Scarlet’s arm, using the other one to take the letter from his pocket. “It looks pretty well-read.” he inspected the state of the letter with mock surprise.

 

“I didn’t- I was carrying it around a lot! It just got crumpled-”

 

“Oh, so you  _ do _ carry it around all the time,” Roman smirked, taking enjoyment from Scarlet’s verbal fumbling.

 

Scarlet frowned and crossed his arms. Roman laughed and returned the letter to Scarlet’s pocket. He removed the cigar from his mouth and tossed it on the ground. “Oh, don’t be  _ like _ that.” he put his arms around Scarlet’s waist, clasping his hands at the small of his back.  “I thought you  _ enjoyed  _ me teasing you.” 

 

“Not like that,” Scarlet mumbled without thinking. He glanced up at Roman and looked away quickly, blushing.

 

“Well,” Roman glanced at his neck, freshening his memory of that night. “You dress like a pirate, I shouldn’t be surprised you’re into some kinky shit.”

 

Scarlet laughed and put the palms of his hands against Romans shoulders. “Not a chance in hell we’re talking about this.”

 

Roman smirked and leaned down to kiss him on the neck. “And I’d bet your safeword is ‘ _ argh matey’ _ or something equally ridiculous,” he mumbled.

 

Scarlet bit his tongue to keep from laughing--, and he pushed Roman away halfheartedly. 

 

“I just.. I have a question,” Scarlet stuttered. Now sitting on the balcony’s edge, he brought his fidgeting hands to his lap.

 

“I thought we  _ weren’t _ having this conversation,” Roman smirked, leaning his head back and winking as he crossed his arms.

 

“No, it’s not- No! Not that. I’m just wondering, where.. you think this is going..” he hesitated a moment, almost not wanting to know the answer.

 

Roman sighed softly and leaned against the balcony next to Scarlet. “Is this where I’m supposed to get down on one knee and pledge my undying love?”

 

“It’s where you’re supposed to take things seriously for once..” Scarlet mumbled, hugging his jacket closer to his body.

 

Roman lowered his head, breathing deeply; he hadn’t liked being called out for avoiding the subject. “Look, I  _ assume _ you’re asking because you got in some trouble because of me. And that’s fine- you want to tell everyone where you found me and have me turned in, I’ll go  _ gladly. _ But if you’re asking because..” Roman licked his lips, searching for the right way to phrase the sentence. “If you’re asking because you want to know how to keep this going, I don’t know what to tell you. Hell, I shouldn’t even  _ be _ here, this is a fucking  _ school _ . You’re-”

 

“Nineteen.” Scarlet interjected, still staring at the ground.

 

Roman sighed once again. “And I’m a twenty-six year old at the top of Vale’s most wanted list. So I’ll ask you- where did  _ you _ expect this would end up?”

 

Scarlet ran a hand through his hair, not wanting to answer to rashly or seem like an idiot. “It’s not like I thought you’d suddenly drop everything you’re doing, I mean you’re a very  _ accomplished _ criminal. And on the other hand, I wasn’t expecting to join you or anything. To be completely honest, I  _ tried _ not keeping this up for this long, I just felt-” he cut himself off, realizing he’d gone towards the less rational route.

 

“Heh,” Roman shook his head, a small chuckle escaping his lips. “That’s the whole reason we’re  _ in _ this little mess, isn’t it?” He turned to Scarlet, mouth turned up in a smile.

 

Scarlet shrugged, face cast downward as he waited for Roman to answer. 

 

Roman, sensing the tension in the air, held his hand out to Scarlet. 

“C’mon. Dance with me.”

 

Scarlet’s head jerked upwards. “What?”

 

“It’s just a  _ dance _ , love. We can figure this out later.”

 

“We.. Now  _ is  _ later Roman.” Scarlet fussed with his jacket, trying to ignore Roman’s use of pet names. “Besides, I can’t dance.. he mumbled.

  
“Then I’ll show you.” He murmured as he gently clasped  Scarlet’s hand.


	14. Chapter 14

Scarlet slid off the balcony and stepped closer to Roman, holding his other hand out as if he wasn’t sure what to do with it. Hesitantly, he put his hand on Roman’s shoulder, realising that he was the shorter person.

 

“You know, the music isn’t that loud..” Scarlet said, scampering around for an excuse not to fumble around in an attempt to dance.

 

“You want it louder? I’ll just go tell them to turn it up then..” Roman turned towards the entrance, letting go of Scarlet.

 

“Wait!” Scarlet leaped forwards, jumping in front of Roman and grasping his hand. “The volume’s fine, let’s just.. get this over with..” He returned his hands to their previous positions.

 

“Well, then I’ll try to at least make it enjoyable,” Roman purred in Scarlet’s ear, wrapping his hand around his waist and kissing him softly. 

 

Roman gently turned around, swaying them softly to the beat of the muffled music playing inside. To Scarlet, the world had gone quiet save for the sound of his own rapidly beating heart. He leaned in closer, easing himself in to the dance, and the sound of Roman’s heartbeat accompanied his.

 

His thoughts were racing, and he pushed away the ones telling him that this was some sort of parting gift, and held close to the thoughts telling him to enjoy the moment. He wanted to talk, to ruin the moment by telling Roman to never leave him, to run away with him, that he  _ loved _ him, but ironically, he thought it would make him leave faster.

  
So they stood together, close in each others arms, long after the song had ended and a livelier song had started. Scarlet never wanted to leave, but  the sound of footsteps halted his perfect moment.


	15. Chapter 15

“ _ Shit _ ,” Roman whispered, noticing the footsteps.  Taking Scarlet’s hand, they ducked through the nearest door to a supply closet. Roman glanced through the small space he left in the door, eyeing up the Atlesian soldiers, flanked by none other than General Ironwood. Scarlet grew slightly uncomfortable in the small space, but kept quiet. To Roman, it looked like Ironwood was simply leaving the party, but he knew he’d be on the lookout for criminals. For people like him. He reached behind him instinctively, gently grabbing hold of Scarlet’s hand. 

 

He knew he had to leave soon, to throw General Ironwood off of the dance and leave Scarlet away from any suspicion. He had gotten them both in a lot of trouble by coming here tonight. He cursed under his breath. 

 

His mind raced trying to think of how to get out of here without any suspicion, and if it came to it, to take Scarlet with him. It was risky, and went against everything they’d talked about, but if it came down to it, he’s do anything to keep Scarlet safe.

 

Roman had no time to get any sort of plan underway, because a sudden alarm rang out across Beacon’s campus.

 

His heart seemed to stop as he watched Ironwood run towards them, and he didn’t dare take a single breath, and he noticed Scarlet tightening his grip on his hand. 

 

As Ironwood ran past them to Beacon’s main building, the realisation struck him that this night belonged to Cinder. The second he realised they were safe, he laughed, turning to Scarlet.

 

“Well, what a night. But that’s my cue. They’ll be patrolling this place like bloodhounds after that.” He frowned slightly, knowing that he had no idea what came next.

  
Scarlet nodded, and gave him one last kiss before he ran off in the moonlight. He reached up to straighten his hat, to cover the tears brimming in his eyes, and he noticed something else there. Another feather, and if he knew anything, it was the one from Scarlet’s earring. Roman grimaced, blinking hard, and headed off into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for the wait and the short chapter, I had a brief fit of writing today and wrote it down in a few minutes without re-reading, so the quality probably sucks, but hey- I'm back!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO sorry this took so long to write! Been in a huge writing slump and I thought I'd lost inspiration for this fic. But I'm back!

Scarlet wiped his eyes and snuck back into the party. It seemed like things were dying down, and if he was lucky, he could head back to his dorm before anyone noticed and, to avoid suspicion, tell them he had left early. Of course, his luck didn’t quite work like that, and he was hardly inside before he caught Sage’s eye.

 

_ Shit. _

 

Sage sauntered towards him, and Scarlet grabbed a cup of punch in preparation. He wasn’t running. 

 

“So,” Sage started, leaning against the refreshment table. “Where’ve you been? The party’s nearly done.”

 

Scarlet sipped at the punch, nervous to where he knew the conversation was heading. He’d hoped he didn’t need to explain this in a crowded place. He knew Sage was always there for him, but he didn’t think this went along the same lines as other situations.

 

“I just went outside for some fresh air. Too many people in here, Sage. Besides, I’m not much of a dancer.” He offered a small smile. Sage didn’t return it.

 

Scarlet signed, leaning across the table. “Look, I know you’re worried about me, but I can handle myself, Sage. I’ve got everything sorted out,” he lied.

 

Sage shook his head and stood up straight. “I know you think you’re not completely in over your head with whatever it is you’re doing, but if it involves who I think it does, you can’t handle it.” He turned to Scarlet, and put a hand on his shoulder. “We’re your teammates. You need to trust  _ us _ .”

 

Scarlet nodded. It was abundantly clear who Sage was saying not to trust, even if he didn’t know the whole story. But he knew what he needed to do, and he was sure Sage would be pleased with the results.

 

Sage gave a small smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Everyone else is going with Yang to a bar of one of her  _ friends _ , I don’t suppose you’d like to join?”

 

Scarlet let out a laugh. “No thanks, I just want to go home and sleep until the pounding in my head wears off.”

  
Sage nodded, “It is a bit too loud in here. C’mon; let’s go home.”


	17. Chapter 17

A couple of weeks had passed and Scarlet hadn’t heard from- or of- Roman. He’d scoured police reports and seen nothing he could use to get to him. His team had noticed that something was wrong, but Scarlet had managed to convince them that he’d broken up with his fake boyfriend. Sage, at least seemed convinced that there was nothing wrong with Scarlet, happy that he wasn’t missing half the time anymore. But for Scarlet, things weren’t done.

 

He’d realized that things hadn’t actually been worked out between him and Roman, and he was looking to fix that. The problem was with finding him.

 

Neptune and Sun had gone off to do some sort of detective thing, he didn’t ask. Since Sage and himself were left out of this, Scarlet had spent the day sleeping. Until he woke up to a mysterious phone call in the evening.

 

The phone call was almost nothing but static, coming from having a scroll in a low service area. But he’d heard the name of a place: Mountain Glenn. He recalled that that was where team RWBY went on a mission, and he’d almost decided to leave it at that. But curiosity got the better of him and he headed out. 

 

Scarlet was searching the streets for any sign of something suspicious, almost to the point of giving up and heading home, when he heard the voices of two White Fang members. He followed them, hoping they would lead him to what he was searching for, when someone grabbed him from behind and knocked him out. 

  
When he came to, he was where he’d thought he wanted to be. Except for all the White Fang members surrounding him and ruining the moment, he had finally found what he’d wanted. Roman. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one seems rushed, and sorry it's been taking so long to update! I hope people are still enjoying it!


	18. Chapter 18

“Hi.”

 

Roman tsked, leaning on his cane. “Two weeks, and all you say is ‘ _ hi _ ’?”

 

Scarlet shifted, bringing himself to sit up. “This reminds me of our first meeting,” he winced. “Can I stand up?”

 

Roman offered him a hand, and jerked his chin at the White Fang members. “Yeah, you can  _ leave _ now.”

 

The faunus left, leaving Scarlet and Roman alone. Scarlet glanced around, getting his bearings, and noticed they were in a train car. Rusted and green, it looked abandoned, leaving Scarlet panicking at not knowing his whereabouts. “Where are we, Roman?”

 

“Not important,” Roman waved his hand nonchalantly. “What  _ is  _ important, is that you’re  _ here _ .” Roman’s tone made Scarlet flinch. Roman frowned, seeing that he had made Scarlet uncomfortable. “Now,” he said, holding his hand out towards Scarlet once again. “Let’s talk.”

 

Scarlet took his hand, folding it in his own, and sighed. “Look, I know we need to talk. And I’m worried this won’t be the conversation you’re hoping for. But-”

 

Roman leaned forwards, cutting Scarlet off, and kissed his forehead. “Darling, the fact that we’re actually talking is better than nothing. So spit it out.” 

 

His tone seemed menacing, and Scarlet became uneasy again. He glanced around again, averting his gaze to anything that wasn’t Roman. “I.. I want to keep seeing you, but.. Not like this. Not the way you’re doing things. I can’t be with a criminal, no matter how-” Scarlet looked over Roman’s shoulder, noticing what he’d been trying to hide. “Is that a  _ bomb _ ?!”

 

Scarlet pushed Roman away. “This is what I mean! I’m not going to let you keep harassing and stealing from people! And if  _ I _ can’t keep you from doing it, then… then..  I don't want to be with you.” He lowered his head at the last sentence, staring away from Roman. 

 

“Huh.” Roman said, his tone conveying he wasn’t phased by what Scarlet said. He turned his back to Scarlet. “Well, I can’t say I’m  _ happy _ with this outcome, but I certainly saw it coming.”

 

“So you.. Agree?” Scarlet said, leaning forwards to look at Roman in the eye.

 

“Not exactly, but I can’t force you to stay. As much as I  _ do _ love your company. And I’d..” Roman tensed up, gripping the handle of his cane more tightly. “I’d try to change, I really would. But it’s too late.”

 

Scarlet shook his head and stepped forwards, placing a hand on Roman’s shoulder. “No, it’s not. I can help you, I can-”

 

Roman waved him off, and turned to face him. “I can’t change, Scarlet.  _ But _ , that doesn’t mean I won’t try my hardest to do what’s right by you.”

 

Scarlet nodded, and ran a hand through his hair nervously. “So, until then, it’s goodbye?”

 

Roman nodded tersely. “Goodbye.”

 

Scarlet turned to leave, and held a hand up. “See, I was kind of hoping to leave off with that, but I have no idea where I am or how to get home. So, um…”

 

Roman sighed, and signaled to a nearby faunus. “Take him topside. Don’t let  _ anyone _ know he was here or so help me, I will-”

 

Scarlet coughed, staring at Roman. 

 

Roman made eye contact with Scarlet and sighed, lowering his cane. “You’ll be in  _ trouble _ , got it?”

 

Scarlet nodded at the White Fang member and took one last glance at Roman, leaving him. In the distance, as they left, he could still hear his voice.

  
“Is it good or bad Perry, because let me tell you- I have  _ had _ a day.” He said in an exasperated tone.


	19. Chapter 19

Scarlet sighed, sitting down on his bed after the long trip home. His meeting had gone worse than expected; he had expected Roman to fight for him, but in the end, he was relieved things were over. He took off his boots and took a look at the clock- 7:09am- and glanced over at Sage who was sleeping soundly. Scarlet laid back on his bed and tried to get things out of his head so he could sleep. It wasn’t working. He’d closed his eyes, and two restless hours later, when he thought he was finally able to fall asleep, he was jolted upright by the sound of sirens.

 

Sage sat upright, blanket falling from his bare chest, and he looked to Scarlet. “Where are Sun and Neptune?” he said in a scared tone.

 

“I didn’t see them come back. You don’t think…”

 

Sage flung the blankets from his body and stood, pulling a coat over his body. Scarlet put his boots back on, pulling his pistol from his drawer. He flinched at the sight of it, remembering what he’d gone through to get it back. 

 

“You alright?” Sage asked, sheathing his sword across his back.

 

Scarlet nodded. “Let’s go.”

 

Scarlet was tired from his sleepless night, but together with Sage, he trudged through Beacon’s grounds and found an air transport to take them to Vale. When they arrived at the scene, the area was swarming with Grimm.

 

“No,” Scarlet whispered, his mind connecting the dots between the bombs and the Grimm. He became angry, at Roman for starting this, and at himself for letting him get away with it.

He charged towards a beowulf, bringing it’s head off with one slash of his sword. He hardly noticed what Sage was doing, or if he’d found Neptune and Sun yet. His mind was a flurry, and so was his sword.

 

Team CFVY dropped in, with as much a dramatic entrance as Coco Adel could think up. Scarlet helped them attack the Grimm, and eventually found Fox by his side eradicating the foul creatures. Scarlet saw Emerald fighting off an ursa out of the corner of his eye. 

 

When the fighting was finally over, he regrouped with Sage, having finally found Sun and Neptune, who had arrived late to the fight. Team RWBY was there, and Scarlet made note to talk to them later. His eyes fixed on Roman, who was being taken into custody, led by Emerald and Mercury. He excused himself from the conversation between teams, and walked himself up to the authorities, asking politely if he could have a moment with the prisoner, which raised some eyebrows. He walked and placed himself in front of Roman, and Roman looked surprised to see him. 

 

Scarlet punched him in the face.

 

Without another word, he walked back to his team.

 

“Sorry, I’ve just always wanted to do that.”

  
Sage gave him a look, but otherwise said nothing. Yang raised her fist, bumping theirs together with such force his hand hurt. After the airship taking Roman took off, the conversation dulled, and the teams headed home.


	20. Chapter 20

The next few weeks were some of the hardest for Scarlet. Aside from Roman getting captured and dealing with his own anger on the situation, he had lots of training to do in preparation for the Vytal Festival. Which meant 24/7 spent around his teammates and hiding his emotions. 

 

Sun treated him as normal, focused mostly on his training, he figured Scarlet was just worried about the tournament. Neptune seemed concerned, but kept it to supportive looks, which Scarlet couldn’t stand. Sage was the only one that paid him any attention, and Scarlet hated it more than Neptune’s pitying glances. But mostly, he hated himself for not coming clean to his teammates- his  _ friends _ . 

 

Only once did he speak to someone other than his team in those weeks, and that was when General Ironwood came to his dorm one night. When he’d knocked at the door, Scarlet was expecting anyone but him.

 

“Do you have a moment to speak, Scarlet David?”

 

The use of his full name almost made him cringe, but he’d invited the general in. 

 

“I’ll make this brief,” He’d said, refusing a seat when offered to him. “Myself- and likely many others at the scene- couldn’t help but notice your…  _ display _ when we apprehended Roman Torchwick. Would you care to explain your ties to him?”

 

Scarlet froze, taking caution not to let his surprise show on his face. He felt Sage’s eyes burning into him. “Are you talking about when I hit him?” The General nodded. “My team and I had a.. run in with him some time ago, and it didn’t exactly end well. I was just offering some last minute payback was all.”

 

Ironwood had taken to straightening his sleeves. “I see. And was this ‘run-in’, the only time you’d spoken with the accused?”

 

Scarlet scoffed. “I don’t know what exactly you’re trying to imply, but I’m not sure I like it. He took something of mine, I went to get it back. Stupidly, I might add, but I got away.”

 

The General stared at him, his eyes boring hard into Scarlet’s. “You’re saying you had the location of a known criminal, someone who had been thieving from all of Vale, and you  _ didn’t _ report it?”

 

Sun shook his head, deciding to step in. “Hey man, lay off, he’s been going through a hard time.”

 

The General did not take his eyes off of Scarlet.

 

Scarlet sighed, shaking his head. “No, I didn’t, but my friends were threatened. I got in, stole my weapon back, then got out. Is that enough for you?”

 

Ironwood took his eyes from Scarlet, moving towards the door with his hands behind his back. “I’d like you to come see the prisoner. See how well your stories match up.”

 

Scarlet tensed for a moment. “No.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I said no. I have nothing to say to him, and I have nothing more to say to you. I told you my story. We’re done here.”

  
General Ironwood stood still for a moment, hand on the door. After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke. “Very well. If you change your mind, speak to Ozpin and he’ll have you escorted to the ship he is held on.” The General took his leave, and Scarlet was left with a feeling of dread. Sun and Neptune had tried cheering him up, but nothing had helped. Not until the tournament did he feel the slightest bit better.


	21. Chapter 21

Sitting in a lone cell made for quite little entertainment. To occupy his time, Roman thought of his next part in the plan, and wondered how much longer it’d be until he saw Neo. When he heard footsteps outside his cell, he’d thought momentarily of becoming a bother, and yelling out for things he needed-  _ out _ , most of all- but something stopped him. When the cell door opened, he adjusted his eyes to the light, and who stood before him. General Ironwood- no surprise there, he loved to torture him with meaningless questions- and to his genuine surprise, Scarlet. 

 

It had been awhile since he’d thought of Scarlet, since the bruise wore away at least. Mostly Roman had been focused on what to do when he got free, but the fact that Scarlet hadn’t at least crossed his mind in the past week made him feel more than a little guilty. 

 

“So, General, bring me a new friend?” Roman asked, hoping the joke would come across as that.

 

“An old one, actually.” The General straightened his cuffs. “This is Scarlet David. Do you remember him?”

 

A quick glance at Scarlet’s expression told him what he needed to do. “Not in the  _ slightest _ ,  General.” he bit out the last word.  

 

“Scarlet tells me he’s met you twice. Are you telling me you’ve never seen him before?”

 

Roman clued in on the number- long enough to have stolen from him and returned what was stolen. He doubted Scarlet had told him about trading something- let alone blueprints to the Atlas facility where he stole the paladins- so he decided to leave that out. And he  _ definitely  _ decided to leave the kiss out. Not that he was about to tell Ironwood all of his dirty little secrets anyways.

 

“ _ This _ punk: I remember you! How’s the pistol holding up?” He leaned back, crossing his arms and hoping to appear the dominant one in the conversation. 

 

Scarlet tensed, his hand going to his sidearm. “Fine, since I stole it back from you.”

 

Roman sneered. Undermining his reputation as a thief, that was low. He‘d assumed Scarlet had already gotten his payback. “What, may I ask, is the point of this General?” he asked, eyes leaving Scarlet and turning to Ironwood. “He’s already hit me, I don’t think he needs anymore payback. Do  _ you _ ?”

 

Ironwood put his hands behind his back. “Not at all. I was merely seeing if your stories matched up. Scarlet and I will be leaving now.”

 

“Very well. If it’s any consolation,” he turned back to face Scarlet. “I am  _ deeply  _ sorry I stole from you.” he added only the slightest bit of sarcasm to his words, in hopes that Scarlet would take his words seriously. Scarlet wouldn’t even look at him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place during Yang's fight against Mercury- in which I noticed that Scarlet was mysteriously absent from.


	22. Chapter 22

After Scarlet returned from Ironwood’s ship, he’d found that he’d missed the entire match between Yang and Mercury. His teammates had filled him in on what happened, and everyone was full of panic from the event. The next night, the four of them were planning on going to see the next match- despite what had happened, the festival was still going, though Yang had been disqualified. 

 

First, Scarlet had a something he needed to do. He searched through his scroll for a message he’d sent a while back, or rather, a message that whoever had stolen his scroll had sent. It was an unimportant message, simply saying ‘be back soon’,  but it was sent the night of the dance. Which led him to believe that Roman had associates that might be wanting to know his whereabouts. He pressed the call button, and when it was picked up, he heard nothing but silence. He hoped this was the right number.

 

“You want to know where he is? Come and find me.” He closed his scroll, and headed outside.

 

He waited outside the great hall of Beacon for he didn’t know how long. Finally, a young girl approached him, wearing all black and her hair up in pigtails. She seemed to be in disguise, but from the way Sun had described her, she was easy to place. 

 

“Neo?” Scarlet asked. The girl bowed slightly with her hand behind her back, smirking as she raised herself back up.

 

“I know where he is. Roman.”

 

She blinked at Scarlet, and he continued, figuring she must be the silent type. “He’s on an Atlas airship,” Scarlet pointed at the sky. “That big one there. The cell number was 422. There’s no key, but it’s unlocked through a panel system on the ship.”

 

Neo smiled, and turned to walk away. 

 

“Wait!” Scarlet shouted, waiting until she turned around, confused look on her face. “Good, uh… Good luck.”

 

She blinked, smiling once again, and turned the corner. Scarlet followed, though he didn’t know why, and saw no trace of her. He sighed.

 

“Guess I just have to wait,” he whispered to himself, heading back to the dorm.


	23. Chapter 23

As they sat at the seats of the coliseum, armed with snacks and doubts, Scarlet couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. As the match went on, he could see Pyrrha panicking, and he hoped she was alright. But things seemed to be going downhill. As Pyrrha lashed out with an attack and Penny fell to pieces, gasps were heard out across the stadium, and Scarlet knew that this was going to start something horrible. 

 

A voice spoke over the scene, causing Scarlet- and many others- to freeze in terror. The speech sounded rehearsed, like she knew what was going to happen. This was planned out all too well. But the speech was convincing, he’d give the owner of the voice that. He could see people considering her words, but Scarlet knew it was a bunch of bullshit. He was sick of this villains act. By the time the feeds cut out, people were screaming in terror, and fleeing the scene. The alarms blared, and Scarlet and his team rose to their feet. The sight of a Nevermore loomed overhead, and Scarlet froze, eyes fixed on Pyrrha as she stood petrified in fear.

 

“A Nevermore?”

 

“How’d it get past the defenses?” Coco Adel said, sounding more angry than alarmed.

 

“It wasn’t alone,” Lie Ren said in the same tone, sounding ready to strike back at it.

Sun shook his head, glancing around for any sign of something to fight with. His eyes lit up. “Tell the others to set their locations to 7416. Once that thing comes crashing in, I have an idea.” Sun said, running out of the arena. 

 

The sound of approaching Grimm brought Scarlet to his senses, and he readied his scroll as his teammates set to evacuating civilians. 

 

The defenses shattered, and the Nevermore came crashing in. Scarlet clued in to Sun’s plan, and frantically typed the numbers into his scroll. As a wave of lockers came crashing down onto the Nevermore, it slid, wounded, and the students still at the coliseum vaulted over the barriers to get to their weapons. Scarlet had barely armed himself by the time it screeched, standing itself up to fight. 

 

He was thrown off the side of the Grimm as it stood, and he righted himself as quickly as he could. He unsheathed his sword and prepared himself to fight.

 

As Scarlet took swings at the Nevermore, he was aware of the fighters alongside him. He could see Neon trailing along behind it, taking swings with what looked like modified glowsticks. Nora was taking swings with her hammer, dealing a great blow to its head, and he saw Sage and Yatsuhashi thrown into the air by Arslan, dealing the final killing blow to the creature.

 

Once the battle was over and Jaune and Ruby were comforting Pyrrha, he stood by, catching his breath. He didn’t have long, since it was shortly after that the griffons swooped in. Scarlet panicked for a moment as one seemed to be attacking Ruby, but was shot down by Professor Port. 

 

After a brief reassurance from him and Doctor Oobleck, Scarlet and the rest of the students ran for the exit, ready to take the next ship out of Beacon. They met with Ironwood, and Scarlet was zoning out during the conversation until he heard.. 

 

“Some…  _ vagabond _ has taken control of my ship,” Ironwood seemed to spit the words, and he continued speaking, but Scarlet wasn’t listening.

 

His eyes widened, and he stared at the sky. That could only mean one thing. Roman was free.


	24. Chapter 24

The battle at Beacon had turned more intense as it went on. As the General’s ship went down, he saw Ruby heading off their ship back to Beacon, Sun yelling after her. As he watched where she went and saw her landing squarely on the ship Roman was on, he’d wished he went alongside her, if only to stop Roman for whatever he was about to do. As they landed, Grimm sought out the students- armed and unarmed- and Scarlet and several others set to defending the unarmed so they could make it to a ship to escape to Vale.

 

Scarlet helped his team fend off the Grimm, pushing back as hard as they could, but to no avail; the Grimm seemed to be only gaining in numbers, his suspicions confirmed when he saw airships bringing in more of the creatures.

 

Scarlet was busy taking down an Ursa with Sage when it happened. The nearby mountain exploded, and he saw something he didn’t think existed. A Dragon. Everyone seeing it was in shock as it dove, spilling out mounds of black goo that transformed into even more Grimm. 

 

Scarlet jumped off the back of the Ursa, hardly paying attention as Sage sliced the creature in half. They all readied for battle, bringing up their weapons as they formed a line. Scarlet and the rest of his team ran off to fight more Grimm, as team JNPR stayed behind. 

 

They teamed up with teams CFVY and FNKI, taking out Grimm and lowering their numbers one by one, though it did little in the way of damage control. They were quickly getting outnumbered, both by the Grimm and the Atlas military that had suddenly turned against their creators. There were two paladins closing in on them, and no one had  _ nearly  _ enough firepower to take them down. 

 

That was , until Velvet stepped up. She opened her box, and light came flooding out, forming itself into Crescent Rose. She attacked with the speed of Ruby, lashed out with the strength of Yang, and poised herself to strike with the precision of Weiss. As the light changed to different weapons, everyone stood stunned, save for Coco, who was grinning at the sight of her friend single-handedly taking down an Atlas paladin. 

 

The victory took a dark turn when the second paladin took down Velvet, and the others immediately set to attacking it. When it was finally downed, a third approached, its sights set on the injured faunus. Weiss shouted, and she ran forwards, speed boosted by her glyphs, to defend Velvet. 

When she summoned a knightly looking arm, she seemed surprised, but with it, she took down the paladin with ease. Atlas troops dealt with, they ran off, searching for more Grimm to defeat. 

 

An explosion rang out in the distance, and Scarlet looked up just in time to see the Atlas airship set fire and crash. His eyes widened, and he hoped against all odds that everyone on it was alive.

 

A short while later, they ran into Yang and Blake. Yang was unconscious, having lost most of her right arm, and Blake stayed close by, clinging to Yang as though to make sure she didn’t disappear. For a while they stayed, helping escort civilians onto the ships to Vale, and after a time, Ruby Rose appeared.

 

“Ruby!” Scarlet shouted, running to her. “What happened, are you okay?” He stood in front of her, blocking her view of Yang so she wouldn’t get distracted. 

 

Ruby nodded, shaken. “Torchwick’s dead,” she whispered shakily, noticing what was behind Scarlet finally. She ran to her team, leaving Scarlet to stand there in shock. His breathing became irregular, and his eyes were widened. After a few seconds of not blinking, tears left his eyes, and his breath was shaky and far too fast to be normal. He turned finally, stomach in pain, and he ran to the bushes to empty the contents of his stomach. He wiped his mouth and collapsed on the ground, tears flowing freely from his eyes.

 

Sage noticed something was wrong, and he ran over, placing a hand on Scarlet’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

 

Scarlet shook his head. “I.. I never got to..” he stopped, choking back tears. 

 

“I heard Ruby.” Sage said, compassion in his voice, and he pulled Scarlet into a hug. 

 

“I’m sorry, Sage. I didn’t mean to lie.” He choked out, almost unable to breathe. 

  
Sage nodded, rubbing his hand along Scarlet’s back. “I know.”


	25. Chapter 25

Time became a blur. Scarlet wasn’t sure when the ship came to take his team back to Haven, but he was on it. Sage sat with him, making sure that he was okay, and Scarlet didn’t know if he appreciated his presence or not. He was still in shock, and his breathing had only just slowed down to normal. 

 

Scarlet stared straight ahead, not seeing what was in front of him. All he could think of was what he could have done differently. He could have gone with Ruby, he could have told Roman he was sorry. He could have told Neo not to let him free. He could have,  _ should have _ , done so much. But he didn’t, and Roman was dead. 

 

When the ship finally landed, Scarlet had to be helped off the ship by Sage and Neptune. He decided to finally come clean, to tell them the truth.

 

“I… I have something to say,” he stuttered, voice cracking from all the time spent silent and crying.

 

“Take your time, Scar.” Sage said, still holding him up at the shoulders.

 

“I was… I was lying to you all. And I kept saying I was doing it to protect you all, but really, I just… Felt guilty and ashamed,” Scarlet started, tears welling up in his eyes again.

 

Sage sighed, resting a hand on Scarlet’s shoulder and motioning for Scarlet to take a seat. Scarlet sat down without thinking.

 

“I was… All those times I told you I was seeing someone.. It was..”

 

“You don’t need to say it, man. We know.” Sun said, offering Scarlet a reassuring smile. 

 

Scarlet shook his head. “I need to say it. I made a horrible mistake, and I.. I need to earn your trust back. I was…  _ seeing _ Roman. And it made me uncomfortable because of what he’s done, and I tried to fix that. I tried to get him to stop, but I.. I wasn’t good enough to stop him from doing what he’s done. I thought I could change him because I,” he hesitated, wincing slightly at the thought that came to mind. “I think I loved him.”

 

Neptune walked forwards, leaning down to embrace Scarlet. “I’m glad you told us. And I’m just glad this is over.”

 

Scarlet blinked, tears pouring from his eyes. “And now he’s dead and it’s my fault. I couldn’t do anything to stop him and I… I haven’t been there enough for you guys. I should have told you, and I understand if you don’t trust me.”

 

Sun shook his head and walked over, joining his two teammates in the group hug. “We’ll always trust you, man. Just promise me you won’t keep any more secrets.”

 

Scarlet nodded and eased into the hug as Sage joined the three. He was still crying, but he felt more relieved now. But there was nothing he could do to bring Roman back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now! I'll be back when Volume four is out, just so I can write the next few chapters more accurately to go along with the story.


End file.
